Griffri

``The world is either miraculous or hellish,'' says the eponymous narrator, a medieval Welsh pencerdd (chief poet) who proves his point in this tragic tale of a people and culture struggling against subsumptionok by the English. On two nights separated by a period of years, Griffri tells a Cistercian monk of his apprenticeship under poet Gwrgant ap Rhys; of his service with two minor chieftains and the intricate lines of extended kinship that linked all the region's leaders; of his ascension to position of chief poet and bardd teulu for a band of warriors; of his love for and subsequent marriage to Cristin, a serving woman; and of the nearly constant strife among the Welsh tribes. Meredith ( Shifts ) flawlessly evokes the powerful language of a man trained as a repository of oral tradition and history. A brief glossary defines the Welsh nouns liberally used throughout, and a list of characters assists in elucidating a complex narrative. ( Sept. )